His confession came crashing down like a thunderclap, leaving her mind blank with disbelief. Everything in her went silent as the shock reverberated in her chest.
"What... did you say?"
Lariette stared at Mr. Eastwood, unable to digest the sudden confession. Each passing second seemed to stretch painfully. Her mind refused to believe what her ears had heard.
While her face had grown ashen, he remained composed yet freezingly cold.
"I arranged the exchange," Mr. Eastwood repeated calmly, as though confessing to something trivial as misplacing an item, "I bribed the midwife to exchange you and another infant."
Lariette felt as if her world had spunned out of the axis. Her body went cold from head to toe, and every sound muffled as if she was sinking underwater. Tears swelled in her eyes.
"No..." she panted, desperate for air, "No, that's... That can't be true."
Mr. Eastwood... He was the man behind everything, really?
But for what? For what reason?
